


Date

by PurpleShamrock



Series: Rowvember 2020 [5]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Bitterness, Final showdown, Gen, Other, full on rage filled fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:54:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29229546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleShamrock/pseuds/PurpleShamrock
Summary: "Get your ass to the Ultor Dome, this ends now"Boss is just leaving a party at Purgatory when the challenge comes through, and Boss sets off to make good on her promise, she was going to take everything away from Maero.
Series: Rowvember 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2145972
Kudos: 2





	Date

Purgatory was jumping tonight.  


There was a smile on the face of every Saint in sight and it warmed Shea’s cold black heart, the end of this gang war had been in sight for a while with no payoff, and everybody was restless and had energy to expend. So she couldn’t blame them for wanting to celebrate, or deny that the euphoria of her little family was infectious. She sipped her drink then set it down in front of her as she pulled this months expense reports towards her, trying to ignore the pounding beat making its home in her head as she tried to read the words on the page.  


Once upon a time she would have been in the middle of them all, showing everyone how it was done, pulling a companion for the night, whatever her heart desired, but things had changed. Didn’t stop her heart sinking as she looked over the bodies moving here and there, drinking and laughing. She could almost see her younger self cutting a path straight to the stripper pole and the memories made her lips twist into a smile.  


As it were, it was Shaundi and a couple of other girls that occupied it now, trying to see who could climb to the top and stay there, but they were very drunk, and they hadn’t built up their core muscles enough, something that Shea could get the gang to work on next time she took a martial arts class. The girls Shaundi was with were new, Shea could still see the bruises of their canonisation shining on their cheeks, and she made a mental note to try and meet them. The gang had exploded in numbers recently, Shea was finding it hard to keep up with all the newbies.  


She took another sip and tried to locate her other lieutenants, Pierce was up near the pool table that was collecting quite a few empty glasses around its rim, he was lining up a shot, the same look of concentration he had in a firefight, it was quite endearing seeing how seriously he was taking the game, even though there were no shortage of admirers wanting to get at him.  


Speaking of admirers, she had to save her second in command before, but as she looked, she noticed he wasn’t on the dancefloor, or on the purple couches framing the wall, there was a pretty young lady staring at her intently though, and it set her on edge. People rarely looked her in the eye here, save for her lieutenants and the veterans like Rocco and Leah. Oh and Danilo, but he’d been toe to toe against her.  


Shea frowned and picked up her drink before lowering her eyes back down to the reports, trying to shake off the adrenaline burst. Her body was way too accustomed to jumping into fights at a moments notice, and any kind of emotion had been setting it off. Drinking numbed it though, as it always did, and so she lifted her glass to her mouth.  


There was a yell and someone grabbed her by her shoulders, and Shea swore to fucking God her heart stopped for a second, her whole body jolted and her drink went everywhere. And that was it. She was on her feet and whirled round to face the absolute wanker that was Johnny Gat, who immediately held his hands up as he laughed, apparently not quite believing what was probably a goldmine of a reaction from her.  
Shea swallowed back the string of expletives that queued up to fall out of her mouth, before raising her hands to shake off what had been a Pina Colada.  
“You-” she began, fixing Johnny with a glare, “-are an absolute fucking cunt.”  
“I-I’m sorry,” he replied between sniggers, “I didn’t know-”  
“-that you’re a dickhead?” she offered the answer, turning back and picking up the sodden remains of the reports, watching pina colada drip onto the table before letting it drop, where it made a nice little slapping sound as it flopped back down. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips before turning back to Johnny, then stepped forward and lifted the sunglasses up, saw his pupils constricted as shit and placed them back over his eyes.  
“You’re pissed.” she noted, and he smiled before his hands found her shoulders again, and he made her sit down at a clean table before gesturing to the bartender.  
“The real question is why ain't you?” he said, sliding into the chair opposite her, leaning forwards, and she smiled and mimicked the action.  
“Because I'm the Boss.” she replied, and he snorted.  
“Fuck off Shea.” he laughed.  
“You don’t believe me?”  
“I remember you climbing up the church rafters at every fuckin’ party back in the day.”  
“Yeah but I wasn’t Boss then,” she pointed out, thanking the bartender for her drink before apologising for the mess on her previous table.  
“Nothin’ in job description says you have to become a nun.” he replied with a grin, and she grinned too, she couldn’t help it.  
“Watch.” she said with the air of a challenge, getting to her feet and striding right into the middle of a group of Saints and civilians on the dancefloor, they parted like the red sea, and Shea did a twirl in the space that was created before she strode back, turning back to see them reoccupy it, staring at her curiously. She then threw Johnny a pointed look.  
“Shit, it’s like magnets, but opposite.” he chuckled.  
“See?”  
“You’re tellin’ me nobody tries it on with you?”  
“You’re pissed, not blind right?” she quipped, before remembering that his glasses, sun or otherwise were prescription.  
“Julius had people from time to time.”Johnny said with a frown, and Shea cringed at the mental image.  
“Julius wasn’t me. Do I really need to show you again?” she asked, and he leaned back, staring at nothing in particular as though she’d just blown his mind, she watched him for a few moments before taking a sip of her drink, “anyway, where’ve you been? Getting it in upstairs?”  
She had turned the tables on him now, as his gaze flicked to her.  
“No.” he said quickly, but the tone in his voice suggested more to the story, Shea cast a glance at the girl on the couch across the room, she had a drink now, was pulling the hem of her dress down and purposefully not looking at Shea; and it clicked. She was one of the girls she’d ‘saved’ Johnny from before, and it wasn’t Shea she had been staring at at all, and now Johnny wasn’t looking at her either.  
“What’s stopping you?” she asked gently, watching him fiddle with the pink umbrella in his drink.  
“Well it’s too soon right?” he replied, an edge to his voice. He was waiting for her to answer, she could see it.  
“Only you can make that call.” she shook her head, keeping her own tone apologetic. It was true however, she couldn’t make that call for him, though she was certain that E’esh never expected Johnny to be alone forever after she died, never mind never having sex again. Though on the other hand, Shea was certain that If they all had their way, she’d still be alive and they wouldn’t even be having this conversation, and Shea clucked her tongue before setting her drink down. She leaned forwards, catching his attention, “I’m not going to judge you, if that’s what you’re really asking.”  
“But I don’t know if I could do all that again.” he said before he could stop himself, and he could blame the drink for those words slipping out, would probably do exactly that come morning.  
“Feelings and all that shit you’ve always had a problem with anyway, nobody’s asking you to marry the girl, chances are, she knows what’s up,” she said before a grin slid across her face, “unless I'm completely misreading the situation and the problem lies with your physicality.” she added with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows, and he chuckled.  
“Though it’s been so long I’m surprised it hasn’t fallen off.” he said, leaning back and running a hand through his hair, and Shea picked up his drink and held it out for him,  
“Only one way to find out if your dick game’s gone shitty Tiger.” she replied, and Johnny looked her square in the eye before taking the drink from her hand, and she let it fall to the table as she kept grinning. He downed it in one before getting to his feet, his eyes not once leaving hers.  
“Never call me that again.” he said, before setting the glass down with a clank and turning on his heel. Shea downed hers too, grimacing at the bitterness of it as she saw him head to the girl on the couch, watching over the exchange for a little bit with a sad smile.  


She knew from the off they would never be the same again, but slowly a new normal was slowly beginning to form, Johnny was starting to laugh a bit more now, not as much as before, but it was there. Shea sighed and dragged her hand over her face, she was tired, and confident that Johnny was doing fine on his own, she got to her feet and left Purgatory, binning the ruined reports as she went, stepping out into the cool night air and she shivered, missing the months of Stilwater’s heatwave, even if it played havoc with her skin graphs.  


The Sons of Samedi were gone, for the most part, so there was only The Ronin, Brotherhood and Ultor to worry about. Only, she thought with a chuckle, they had come so far and they still had a long ways to go. They still had yet to find Maero, but after the beatdown that he and Shea had given eachother the last time they met she wasn’t really surprised that he continued to be elusive.  


The Ronin had retreated to lick their wounds after they had been massacred at Purgatory a few months back, but Akuji sr also was proving difficult to find. Shea had a feeling that the next time she saw those two that it would be the last, one way or another. One last hail Mary against the Saints, who were only getting stronger by the day.  
Her phone rang, and she pulled it from her bra and checked the caller ID, seeing a number she didn’t recognise she frowned and put it to her ear. She had expected it to be Pierce, slurring that he’d lost his phone somewhere and to ‘call him if some dirt needs doin’’, or Johnny on his companion’s phone letting her know that he’ll be out all night and to not wait up. Instead, it was a voice that triggered adrenaline to surge into her bloodstream, the liquid in her veins burning hot once more.  
“Get your ass to the Ultor Dome, this ends now.”  
***  
A change of clothes and a stock up of weapons later and Shea was speeding up the freeway to Sunsinger, her heart hammering in her chest. Maero had been watching them, she was sure, watching and waiting for the time when her Saints would be the most incapacitated. She shouldn’t be going alone, she knew she shouldn’t, but the image of Carlos broken, and beaten and nearly fucking flayed alive forced it’s way into her mind and it was all she could think about. Carlos was her boy, and he was not supposed to have been targeted, this was supposed to just be between her and Maero, mano el mano, but he fucking took Carlos, and in return she swore she’d take everything from him. She now just needed his life. She hadn’t known when this day would come, just knew it was marked in her calender regardless.  
It was time to end this.  


She pulled up outside the Ultor dome and got out of her car, surveying the quiet exterior. Maero was inside, she could hear muffled metal music blasting within. She reached inside her car and strapped the grenades she brought to her chest, picked up her T3K Urban, and strode inside. She’d should have brought back up, the thought hitting her now, but it was too late. She had left messages on each of her lieutenants phones, but in all honesty she didn’t think they would check them until morning.  
It was pitch black out in the arena, and as she walked towards it, her steel toe boots thunking against the tiled floor, she saw nobody else inside, which was odd. The tile soon changed to gravel, and the mechanised shutters closed behind her, she found herself blinded with a white light and she held up an arm to shield her eyes from the onslaught.  
“I didn’t think you’d show.”  
Man she could _hear _the smile in his voice. “I didn’t think you’d have the balls to come alone.” she quipped back, and Maero sniggered.  
“I never said I’d be alone.”  
__

__Engines revved, and Shea turned and stared into the headlights of a brotherhood truck, but Maero wasn’t in this one. She had no chance to dwell however, as another revved behind her, the lights glaring on, she turned, then there was another, and another, and another. Then finally, the last one, Maero’s monster truck, gigantic. Shea had to stare up at it as engines continued to rev around her. She was fucked.  
_Fan-frigging-tastic _.  
___ _

___Tires squealed and two of the trucks surged forward to pin her between them, and she felt like she had nowhere to go but up, she jumped on instinct, landing on the bonnet of one and running up onto the roof as bullets were shot through the windscreen at the back of her heels as she moved, detaching the pin of a grenade as she went before she threw it in the driver’s cabin and dived off into the gravel, landing feet first and sprinting for cover.  
_ _ _

___She didn’t quite make it though, her feet were lifted and the force of the explosion threw her into the stone bumper she had been running for. Pain shot up her spine and she fell forwards onto her stomach, cringing in agony before she felt the rumble in the gravel, and she realised that she couldn’t linger there. Gritting her teeth against the pain and the ringing in her ears, she got to her feet, aiming for the nearest truck and sending a spray of bullets into the front of it, catching the driver in the head and diving out of the way as it smashed into the bumper and began to smoke.  
_ _ _

___Shea kept moving, ignoring her screaming muscles and dipped and dived and twisted away from the trucks hell bent on running her down. Maero was circling the arena, observing her predicament with sick smiles and hatred in his eyes, his mouth moving but she had no idea what he was saying, she couldn’t hear, and she was a little too busy to lipread.  
_ _ _

___The truck from earlier exploded and again, Shea was thrown by the force of it into another truck, and she felt herself slide off the bonnet onto the floor as pain lit up her nerve endings, she couldn’t move, had she landed wrong on her spine? Was she paralysed?  
_ _ _

___Hands weaved into the front of the grenade belt she wore, and one of the remaining Brotherhood smashed his forehead into her nose, and stars burst in front of her eyes as her back hit gravel again. Then a boot found her ribs and stole her breath.  
_ _ _

___She rolled away and her hand spasmed as it dug into the gravel, but her heart soared at the pain, she hadn’t been paralysed after all, and she proved it to herself by dashing the gravel into The Brotherhoods eyes, she then used that opportunity to tackle one, using her arms to snap his neck before her eyes fell on another that had been advancing on her, and he faltered before pressing onwards, his hands finding that grenade belt for purchase.  
_ _ _

___Her fingers moved deftly, pulling a pin and detaching herself from the belt, rolling away as more of the Brotherhood came to join him, and she managed to drag herself behind cover as the belt and all the grenades exploded, the rumble felt underneath her, debris cascading down from the ceiling, making her cough from the dust swirling through the air.  
_ _ _

___She grimaced as she flexed her hand, or tried to, there wasn’t a lot of movement to it as it shook and seized with pain, the intensity bringing tears to her eyes, she had no time to cry however, as she looked up and saw Maero’s monster truck heading right for her, she thought about running for a split second, but where could she run? She was locked in here. Knowing that this was it, she retrieved a gun from a flesh pile, and charged onwards. The only way out was through Maero after all.  
Turning her pain outwards, she opened the door and dived into the cabin with Maero, and she felt his hand seize her head and smash it against the dashboard, again, stars popped in front of her eyes and she twisted, using her feet to push his face away as she measured up where his kidneys were to repeatedly force her elbow into them. He fired blindly with the gun, not being able to see where she was, one caught her in the shoulder. She fought on however, lifting one foot off his face to pin the gun by his head as she continued to elbow every bit of him she could.  
_ _ _

___It wasn’t a fight of finesse, of skill, it was just a fight, at one point Mearo’s hands found her neck and he squeezed as she punched, clawed and bit chunks out of him. She did not panic, she was just enraged, yelling choked screams as he fell off the seats and pinned her to the floor of the cabin under him, hatred twisting every inched of his gnarled face as he upped the pressure and cut off her breathing completely, and she felt herself turning red as she gasped for air and kicked under him.  
_ _ _

___This was beyond her realms of comfort now, and in a last ditch attempt, she gripped the sides of his head and attempted to push her thumbs into his eyes, he jerked away from her, and squeezed harder, and she rapidly felt her strength leaving her before an almighty crunch was heard and the truck jerked, throwing Maero off her as they tumbled around the cabin before her back slammed hard into something metal, then her head, and it was lights out.  
_ _ _

___When her eyes next opened, all she could see were swirls of colour, and her blood rushed in her ears like she’d pressed them to Conch shells, offset nicely by the continuous ringing still present. She blinked, and the world focused, but span, and she moved to get up, screaming as pain knifed through her, she sat up gingerly, blinking to dispel the doubles she was seeing of everything.  
_Maero! _The memory came flooding back,  
Looking down, she saw Maero’s pistol and reached for it, closing her fingers around the cool metal before she punched open one of the doors and scrambled out of the twisted wreck that had been the monster truck. The movement triggered something and pain seized her body, she rolled, hitting the gravel and smelling gasoline.  
___ _ _

___Heaving to her feet once more, staggering sideways, she made her way to the front of the truck, looking for Maero, found him lying under the cabin on the other side, pinned, hell, she might even have used him to crawl out of the wreckage, now she thought about it.  
Was he dead?  
He better fucking not be. His life was hers.  
_ _ _

___She dragged herself over to him, checking the ammo in the pistol as she glowered at Maero’s unmoving body, using her foot, she turned his torso, pushing his shoulder to the gravel and was surprised when his eyes eased open, unfocused at first, until he recognised the gun and the person holding it, and rage burned the confusion from his face.  
“Any last words?” she asked. He raised his hand, fingers digging into her calf.  
“Go to hell.” he snarled. She squeezed the trigger and Maero’s face became a mass of blood, bone and brains sinking into the gravel. She took her leg back, and walked away, a great exhaustion rushing over her.  
_ _ _

___And so it was over. The great blood feud between her and Maero, she’d avenged Carlos good and truly, and she should have been elated, but that great hole remained inside her that Carlos’ death had made, and she found herself at a loss for what to do now. She was alive, beaten, but she would recover, but Carlos wasn’t alive, he wouldn’t ever recover. She’d hoped killing Maero would ease the empty feeling a little, but it hadn’t and now she was just drained.  
At that thought, her legs buckled just short of the shutter, her knees hitting the ground. The adrenaline was leaving her, and the pain from her wounds and her aches was intensifying. She just wanted to sleep, but she wasn’t safe here yet. More of the Brotherhood’s remnants could be on their way and she wasn’t pleased at the idea that she’d survive that fight with only to be taken out by a lackey straight afterwards.  
_ _ _

___The shutters roared into life, and her heart leapt in her throat, again, she pushed her body past her limits, again she stood ready to fight. Only to almost break down in tears when the light abated and her lieutenants and soldiers rushed in. They were shouting, but she couldn’t hear what, and she just about collapsed into Johnny’s arms as she let her legs buckle again. She fisted her hands into his shirt, and she felt his arm tense, keeping her upright and standing to keep up appearances for the frontliners, and she felt the rumble of his voice as he ordered some of the boys and girls around to check for any Brotherhood survivors.  
“Gonna make sure they know you walked outta here.” she could just make out his words, and yes, her getting out on her own two feet definitely made for a better story than dragging yourself out in pieces. But she would not have been able to walk at all without his strength making this possible.  
_ _ _

___It soon became apparent that walking was making it worse and her knees buckled again, and again Johnny kept her up, he kept talking, she could just make out the undertone of his voice past all the whooshing in her ears but she hadn’t a clue what he was saying.  
_ _ _

___Must have been ‘where’s your fuckin’ car keys’ as she felt him search the pockets of her jeans until he found them and unlocked the car, then he lifted her into the passenger seat, taking care not to smack her head on the frame as he did, then the seatbelt was pulled across her and he was gone until he got in the driver’s seat a few moments after.  
_ _ _

___She wanted to talk to him, and tried to, but her brain wasn’t playing ball, she just wanted to sleep and as soon as he began driving she passed out. The last thing she saw was Johnny’s face, his jaw set, expression sombre, but she knew that in his presence that she was finally, finally safe._ _ _


End file.
